ALA Bookstack: Starry River of the Sky

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Keeping any Grace Lin books on my shelves is hard and this one will be no different.  Grace Lin has a gift of weaving traditional Chinese folklore into magical stories with beautiful messages.  

Starry River carries ideas about who we are and how we exist within our environments-- what can be changed and how to find your place within the rightness of things.   

Having run away from his family, young Rendi finds himself trapped in a small village where all is not well.  Rendi’s own journey intertwines with that of the villagers, who include the strong-willed and bold Peiyi, the mysterious Madame Chang, the enigmatic Mr. Shan along with one very personable toad.  

Not final full color art

Through his own storytelling and that of Madame Chang, Rendi find the answers he needs to right his own world and to help the villagers right theirs.  Truths are revealed and paths are laid through stories such as: "The Story of the WangYi's Wife" and "The Story of Son Wine."  Not all stories need to have such import though, the reader will grin along with the other characters when "The Tale of the Noxious Toad of the Five Poisons" is told.

I love the community the develops as this story unfolds. Friendships can sometimes be found in unlikely places and with unlikely people, as Starry River of the Sky so beautifully demonstrates.

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